Ex-EMCC student indicted for murder in April 9 stabbing at Ohio Street apartments

Bangor police are investigating a stabbing Tuesday, April 9, that left a man dead. The stabbing occurred shortly after 6 p.m. near this lamp post, according to neighbors who live in the same building at 1160 Ohio St., known as Birch Circle. Birch Circle is a small housing complex just near the intersection of Ohio Street and Finson Road in Bangor.

BANGOR, Maine — A former student at Eastern Maine Community College was indicted Wednesday by the Penobscot County grand jury in connection with a fatal stabbing April 9 at the Birch Circle apartments on Ohio Street.

Akeem T. Harris, 23, of Amityville, N.Y., was indicted for murder in the death of Thomas N. Taylor, 30, of Bangor.

Harris is not in custody, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson, who is prosecuting the case, said Wednesday after the grand jury handed up the indictment.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest, according to Bangor police.

“We anticipate he will be arrested in the near future,” Sgt. Paul Edwards said in a press release issued shortly after the indictment was made public.

No other information about when the arrest might take place was available late Wednesday.

Benson declined to provide details about the stabbing but said that Harris was a student at EMCC in early April and was from New York.

Dan Belyea, director of administrative and student services, confirmed late Wednesday that Harris had been a student when the stabbing took place.

“Mr. Harris was, but no longer is, a student at EMCC,” Belyea said in a statement. “He withdrew from the college shortly after the events that took place on April 9.

“The college understands that he has returned to his home state of New York and does not intend to return to the college,” the administrator said. “We know of no other connection between the alleged events and the college.”

Harris has no criminal record in Maine, according to the Maine State Bureau of Identification.

An arraignment date for Harris has not been set.

Taylor died on April 9 from “a stab wound to the chest” and had a “perforation of the lungs and heart,” Mark Belserene, a spokesman for the state medical examiner’s office, said earlier this month.

Bangor police were called to Taylor’s residence at the Birch Circle apartments, located at 1160 Ohio St., for an altercation shortly after 6 p.m. April 9 and found Taylor in the parking lot bleeding from the stab wound, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said earlier this month.

Taylor, who was the father of a young boy, was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he later died.

If convicted of murder, Harris faces between 25 years and life in prison.

Correction:A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Akeem T. Harris' place of residence. The error was caused by the indictment, which erroneously listed Bangor as his residence.